We have talked in depth about planning, guiding, and assessing productive group work. Now we want to answer what we know are the questions teachers most frequently ask about groups. These questions center around three concerns: group formation, providing content for groups, and introducing group work to the classroom. We hope the answers will provide you with some practical tools for getting started.
Group Formation
Should Students Be Grouped by Ability?
The short answer is no—students should not be grouped by ability for productive group work. In fact, ability-based (or homogeneous) groups run counter to the evidence on the effectiveness of productive group work. As we noted in the Introduction, groups are, on average, smarter than any single member. As part of their interaction, group members share information and experiences, thus building each others' background knowledge.
Copyright © 2009 by ASCD. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication—including the drawings, graphs, illustrations, or chapters, except for brief quotations in
critical reviews or articles—may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system
, without permission from ASCD.